Should appeals be recorded when asking for a donation OR recorded upon return of their donation?  Currently, we only have each appeal name once and not broken down by a year (ie: 2008phonathon).

Assigned appeals should be recorded on the record of each person who received the solicitation so that you know how many people you asked.  The gift appeal should be recorded when a gift resulting from that mailing is received.  That way, you can determine how many people were asked and how many responded, total gifts received, etc.

Ditto....we do what Leslie said.

Do your assisgned appeals change every year, like 2008phoneathon, or all have the same name, like phonathon? Thanks.

We usually have them year specific 2009 Summer Appeal, 2010 Summer Appeal etc.

Advantages: You can track responses and total given on Appeals tab.

If they are a different solicitation, they have a different appeal. Each mailing or solicitation has a new appeal so that the appeal response can be tracked and expenses applied according. If we have an appeal that is the exact same every year that we don't track expenses and response rates I don't include the year in the naming convention. (Example Tribute Appeal - these are unsolicited memorials or tribute gifts we get, but we don't create a new appeal for them annually, etc.)

Appeal and package tracking lets you know what materials or solicitation efforst are working for you, which ones aren't, etc.